Medicaid Nursing Home Care in New York

Considerations in Medicaid long term care planning

Successful planning for long-term care involves in-depth individualized analysis. Some of the factors that can affect your strategy include:

• The assets that you have available – Assets that can affect Medicaid eligibility include but are not limited to: cash, investments, real property, vehicles and life insurance policies;
• Income sources – In most circumstances, once covered by Medicaid, income directed to the spouse who needs care goes to pay the cost of the care. A spouse who is living independently can keep income directed to him or her, up to a statutory limit. If the spouse living in the community does not earn up monthly income up to the statutory limit, the community spouse may be eligible to receive some additional income from their spouse who is receiving Medicaid;
• Marital status – As with income sources, a Medicaid applicant’s exemptions and allowances will be impacted by whether they have a spouse who can live independently;
• Dependents – If the Medicaid applicant has disabled dependents or dependents under the age of 21, certain assets will be exempted as they are for an independent spouse;
• Timing – Medicaid planning typically involves transferring assets in advance of when the actual care is needed. Ideally, Medicaid planning should begin at least five years before a long-term care facility will likely be needed to avoid lookback problems and Medicaid penalties.